Typhoon Songda

We just got done with our first typhoon of the season. They do an excellent job of preparing here, and systems are very in order so everyone is informed and knows what is coming. The wind gusts were 90 knots on Saturday night. The girls were already asleep. It was about 9:30 when it really started picking up. I listened to it for awhile rattling all our windows, tried to fall asleep in bed early, but it wasn't working. Our storm windows are really solid here. Good thing, because I don't think normal windows could survive such strong winds. We went out the next day and surveyed the damage. There were lots of big tree branches lying around, and some good-sized trees that had been all the way uprooted. Out of all the cars in the parking lot, ours seem to be the only 2 with damage. Most of the cars here have these plastic rain guards overlapping the top of the window, and one of those on the van had been ripped off so we're left with a jagged little piece of plastic. On the Funcargo, the plastic red and clear piece covering the taillights on one side was ripped off, and I noticed a little dent in the back. And a strip on the top had pulled off, but I think I can press it back in. Maybe I'll go to the junkyard and see if I can find that piece of plastic, so the car doesn't look so junky right away. One of my friends said there was a car on it's side up the street, which isn't surprising since the cars here are so little and light. I believe this was just a strong Category 2, so I'd hate to see what a Category 5 brings about. Even with that, I'd feel secure in our towers. Another friend out in town said it was the strongest winds they'd had in decades, so maybe that will be the worst we see while we're here, God-willing! 
And in case you're wondering, typhoons and hurricanes are the exact same thing. . just called by different names for their location in the Pacific Ocean. 

Shi-sa Park

We found this huge Shi-sa lion dog the other day. . right in the middle of a park! :) OK, it was the park. Maybe you've seen these as good-luck charms. Taken from my phone book - "The idea is said to have come from the blend of Chinese and Japanese religions. Shi-sas are placed at the entrance of homes, shrines, graves, and on rooftops. They are placed in pairs: the one with the mouth open represents the male getting rid of evil and the one with the mouth closed is a female holding the happiness." They are on many rooftops here - mostly made of unglazed ceramic. We even have a pair on our towers. They make a popular collectible it seems. 

I kept A. in the picture on the bottom left so you can see how large he is! She wanted to climb up to the top using those outside rungs, but I made her take the inside stairs. Once she was inside the mouth, she refused to go down either of the concrete slides. Concrete slides are surprisingly fast, by the way. :)

My Beautiful Baby

I know we're completely biased, like all parents, but I really do think I have the most beautiful children. What's even greater has been watching A's heart as she grows and matures and communicates God's love to everyone in her life. It's just the greatest thing ever. And D. is so sweet already. She is so happy and content and loves giving kisses and pulling hair. :) I can't believe how close she's getting to ONE! Tooth #6 just poked through. Can you see her bottom two in the 2nd picture?!

Nishibaru Pirate Ship Park

I tried to be brave with a friend the other week and find a new park. We both started out at Kinser with the same directions, but she ended up never finding it, and I found it by luck. It was great having a play date with a friend while we played at different parks. :) We ended up staying at this pirate ship park for a couple hours, because the weather was gorgeous. In that time, 2 little classes of Japanese preschoolers came to play with us. From what I have gathered, not all the schools here have their own playgrounds, so they bring kids to the community parks nearby. They all looked cute in their flappy brightly-colored baseball caps. A couple of the kids kept running up to me to practice an English phrase or two, and then they would run off laughing. There was a cable rope swing that A. was brave enough to try once she saw all the other kids doing it. They really are brave here. The spaces in between the logs that made up this wood bridge were big enough for her to fall all the way through this time, but the Japanese seem to like "playing at your own risk". I'm not sure which side I'm on yet. . the sissy American side with developmentally appropriate playthings, or the adventurous, let kids be kids side of this country! The kids try to talk to A. and she tries to talk back to them, but it takes them both awhile to realize that they don't understand each other. Most of the time they just give her some funny looks while she is left trailing behind them trying to get them to listen! We both do a lot of smiling to make up for our lack of language so far. An old lady came over and took D. from me when she saw that A. needed rescuing from the crow's nest. They always ask if she is a boy or a girl, because they don't really use gender colors here, so dressing her in pink has no meaning for them. There were lots of boys wearing pink hats at the playground. 

Poser

A. is into being melodramatic. . . 

Good Eaters!

We never thought the day would come when our 3 year old actually asks her mom if she can eat salad and then goes willingly to the fridge to make her own and munch on it. She was not always a very good veggie eater, but maybe, just maybe that phase will be over, thanks to some successful ABA.
Her little sister is following right along. Below is the whole plate of edamame that she ate the other day (granted the pods take up a lot more space than the soybeans, but still). It was the first time for both of us to eat it. :)  

She was seriously SO excited to eat her salad, and ate most of the bowl!

D's plate of edamame-next time I'll buy the already shelled ones!

Treehouse Park

I found our way to another park the other day on the one day of sunshine last week. Treehouse Park looked like fun, and A. had did have fun climbing up the 3 big trees. There was a long, wobbly wooden bridge connecting 2 of the trees, but being overly cautious, I didn't let her try it because the gaps in between the logs were big enough to swallow her whole leg. :) They had a fun tunnel that you could crawl through and pop up in different places, too. Good way to get the kids nice and dirty! And as you can see below, she just loved the quad bike-go'round toy. I thought it was a clever idea, making all the kids pedal to have some fun. We were the only ones at the park though, so maybe it would've been more fun without slow Mom trying to pedal for both of us. D. just liked crawling in the sand and trying to eat dry leaves. This park is pretty close to our home, so we might have to re-visit it once we've checked out all the other ones. :)

FunCargo

See car. 
See Americans driving car.
See Americans trying to park large cars in our tiny parking areas. 
Laugh at silly Americans. 
Oh, look!
Look at their fun car!
Go, car, go!
See that FunCargo!


Driving in Japan has certainly been. . . fun? We had to take a driving test the week we got here to get our special military licences. Probably the most terrifying part of getting out and about is all the hassle and trouble of getting into an accident in a foreign country. As if getting into an accident isn't a pain enough, they told us horror stories of making sure to call base police for ANY incident or J. could practically get court-marshaled! We noticed right away how many people run red lights. We've learned that Americans call it the "3-car Rule" and it's really true. You all know the feeling of not wanting to sit through one more cycle of that light, and Japanese people know that feeling too. They have really limited parking here as well. Makes sense, because it would probably only take 1 Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy parking lot trio to fill their landmass. So without parking, as you're trying to drive down major roads, there are cars stopped all over the place along the shoulder, with half their car in the far left lane, which causes everyone to veer to the right to avoid them. It seems like a fluid dance that everyone knows the steps to. We learned fast. Lots of their cars seem to come with curtains as a standard option, too. Kind of funny. It's like they're saying, "Oh, let's make this all a little more dangerous by draping dark curtains on the front windows to block our vision." And even though car seats are sold in stores, it seems people buy them just for looks. You see little kids climbing all over the seats. I really don't know what their laws are on that. We were told it doesn't matter what they do, it's still a law for us! The other day I saw a baby sitting backwards in his car seat in the front seat (with plenty of room in the back). I admit it would make it a ton easier to keep babies happy if you could keep constant eye contact. So that's a little different. If cars parked halfway in your lane isn't enough to worry about, driving safely for the sake of those other kids keeps me alert.
Anyway, after quickly buying the Odyssey and an RVR that was almost the same length of the van, I decided that maybe a slightly smaller car would be better for these streets. There are plenty of Americans making their mini-vans work, and a few Japanese who drive them as well, but for the most part, the roads are consumed with pug-nosed "box cars." Their hoods are so tiny because of their extremely small engines. The cars with small engines get yellow license plates so you know to give them extra time to get going, which is nice for everyone involved. I also had a nice little incident in the van when I was following a friend to a restaurant. We parked along the street, and after backing up for her so she wouldn't hang out into a driveway, I was hanging out into one myself. She didn't seem worried by it, so I wasn't, until the owner of that business came in to the restaurant with his camera in hand speaking loudly to the owners. I quickly made my way outside to move the van, with the very irate man behind me (and he was BIG!). I gave him my best "sumi masen", to which he replied, "NO sumi masen!" (probably because that wasn't the right phrase for that situation :) and banged his hand down on my hood, standing at my window waiting for me to move. It's a good thing I couldn't understand all that he was saying, because I was already flustered enough as to have put the car into reverse before trying to start it. So I sit there for what seemed like forever, thinking the van was broken now because it wouldn't start! Ha, I eventually got it going and moved farther down the street, and left him out on the curb with the 2 restaurant owners. We all felt pretty awful as he kept them out there for a good 10 more minutes, taking all the past injustices of his life out on them. In my mind, a tinier car might not have impeded on his driveway and could've saved us all from his wrath. . . so I started looking. 
Actually, I already knew which one I wanted. . The Toyota FunCargo. Oh yes, it's a Fun Car GO! It's still on the larger side for a vehicle here, but it's almost 3 feet shorter than the van, and just knowing that it's smaller has given me some extra confidence at getting in and out of places. I'm pretty sure it's the best-named car ever, although they do have some other pretty unique names. . . . the MOVE (I think they should've just added the exclamation point), the Vellfire, and others that just aren't coming to me right now. :)
J. was kind enough to let me sell his car, so we could keep the 7-seater for when we have company (who's coming first?!). My favorite thing about the car is that it's yellow! There aren't many brightly colored vehicles here - silver and white seem to be the colors of choice, so that makes it extra fun. Here's a pic so you can picture us, driving around in style now on the left-side of the road!

Actually an internet pic, but this is still our car. Fun, eh?

Easter Celebrations

Our Easter celebrations were different yet the same this year. Jesus is still Risen, even all the way over here! Big Sundays in the church year always make me feel closer to Christians all over the world. The Saturday before Palm Sunday our church had its annual Easter party. There seem to be only a few families that are regular attenders in the Japanese side of the church, but for the party the kids from our church's English class were invited, so there were probably about 25 kids in all. I talked to one of the Japanese moms at the party (I was in charge of egg dyeing!) and she said that the Easter eggs and all that Easter entails is very novel to the Japanese people. That makes perfect sense since the majority of their country isn't Christian. We certainly didn't see any signs out in town of any awareness of Easter. So it was good to have the other kids involved. They loved dyeing eggs and hunting for them, doing crafts, and our Pastor did a nice job retelling the good news of Jesus' resurrection. 

After our joint service on Easter, we had a potluck. I'd decided to bring a number of dishes, and it wouldn't have felt much like Easter without Mom's Refrigerator Mashed Potatoes. I don't make potatoes much anyway and hadn't looked at the prices here, so I almost changed my mind when the sing underneath the 5 lb. bags said $12.67. What?! The Japanese lady at the cash register even double-checked to see if I still wanted them. . . "Are you sure? Usually they only 9.99." I decided we will just eat real potatoes 3 times while we're here - once every Easter. 

We let the girls hunt for baskets and eggs when we got home from church. D. eventually figured out how to crawl after them and then just sat on the floor shaking her eggs with the Cheerios inside. 

Dyeing eggs with the other kids

Our sanctuary (on the 2nd floor) just might fit the whole extended family

Pastor and his wife telling the Easter story - in 2 languages

Pastor helping A. with her shell cross

The most savored potatoes ever eaten.

Daddy and the girls

Our view from the balcony

"See sister? This is how you do it."

She sees it!

She's GOT it!

Coco K's

The other week I was invited by a friend to get a pedicure at a place out in town called CocoK's. It's one of those places where you can choose from a gazillion things for them to paint on your toes with their tiny brushes, and they replicate it exactly. They even had a little place for kids to play, so I decided to try and hold D. while A. played, since all the kid-swappers were getting their nails done, too. :) From start to finish it took just over an hour. I got the most intense calf massage I'd ever had, followed by their crazy work with a pumice stone. The best part was when A. informed me she had to go to the bathroom while I was in the middle of getting everything done. A random worker was kind enough to take her, and when she came out the second time (she had to go twice), she announced loudly, "Mommy, I pooped!" The word "poop" was not lost on the Japanese ladies, as they all laughed.D. started getting antsy in the chair towards the end, but she did sit great for the first 45 minutes as I stuffed Cheerios in her face. Maybe not a totally relaxing day at the spa, but if they hadn't had a kid corner, none of us would've gone, so there ya go. The next best thing about this experience might have been discovering how in love with the word "Coco" the Japanese seem to be. In a matter of a quarter a mile, we'd passed Coco Curry House (an apparent favorite around here) and Coco's corner store. 
If you don't like looking at feet, sorry, but I thought I'd show you my design. It's still going strong a few weeks later! 

Rollerslide Parks

Since the day we've gotten here, all our friends have told us that we have to check out the parks here. The Japanese seem to be good at building public parks, maybe since people have so little green space of their own. Everyone also told us to bring your own piece of cardboard, so you slide faster and so you don't tear a hole in your pants. :) So this park we went to wasn't all that awesome, but it did have a really long roller slide. The slides are made out of, hmmm how to describe it. . rollers? There are like 12 1-inch rollers side by side and rows and rows of them all the way down the slide. And it's probably the loudest slide you'll ever slide down. A. had fun sliding down with both Mommy and Daddy. Mommy went much slower the first time than Daddy did though! Daddy really got them flying! There was one cherry blossom tree at the park, so not great pics, but I tried to get a couple since we live in the land of cherry blossoms now. It's going to take me the whole 3 years to find every little park on the island, but maybe we'll just do it! The parks on base definitely DON'T have roller slides. . I'm sure they'd be considered a liability in the states!

She kept putting her leg up weird, maybe it was the grass. :)

The brave girl 

The towering slide!

We missed cherry blossom season this year, so I'm already looking forward to Jan/Feb of next year!

Sushi Go-Round!

My brother informed me that they have these type of restaurants in the states, but it's hard to find them when you stick to places like The Olive Garden and Chili's! Either way, this genre of restaurant, know as "Sushi Go-Rounds" seems to be pretty popular here. J. and I had the chance to check one out on a date night, which was good, because it would've been a really hard place to eat with 2 little ones. So in case you've missed out on this in your neck of the woods, here's what happens at the restaurant. You sit down on stools, everyone in an ovular shape. There were a couple chefs in the middle of the circle whipping out little plates of sushi and placing them up on the conveyor belt, which runs past right in front of you. When you see something you like, you just reach up and grab it and enjoy! The plates are color-coded so you can figure out how much something costs and if you have enough change in your pocket to grab one more plate! The cheapest plate was 90 yen and the most expensive was about 420 Yen I think. We liked most of the things we tried, and figured out from watching other people that you could also order off the menu in case nothing interesting was coming by on the conveyor belt. It's a good place to try all the different sushi dishes since you only get a little bit of everything. It's a good thing because J. grabbed one with lots of "avocado" on it and then took a big bite only to find it was wasabi, ha! As you finish a plate, you just stack the plates next to you, and at the end they had a "plate scanner" that somehow was able to calculate how much we owed! A family of 4 across from us had about 40 plates at their table, so we felt conservative with our little stack of 9. We're looking for more places like this as the one we tried didn't have great ambiance. . fluorescent lighting, felt like a diner. Maybe they're all like that, though. I tried to take some discrete pictures for you. :)

Smoked Eel - This was our favorite. It was delicious!

The guy's plates next to us

Some of our other selections

That's it, that's our stack!